


Hellfire

by I_Am_The_Circle



Category: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain, Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn & Related Fandoms
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Character Study, First Kiss, Getting Together, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Period-Typical Homophobia, Religion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-17
Updated: 2020-02-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:34:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22762543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Am_The_Circle/pseuds/I_Am_The_Circle
Summary: Didn't you decide long ago you were set on going to Hell?Didn't you decide to be as much of a sinner as you could, seeing as you were already damned?Ain't you sinned enough since then?So why are you so damn worried about this?These are the questions Huckleberry Finn asks himself as he sits by the river with Tom on a hot June night. It's been years since he'd decided to be a sinner, through and through, and though he struggled a bit at first, it wasn't too hard in the years following. He mostly just smoked too much and skipped church and took the Lord's name in vain, and most importantly, did his best to help any slave that needed it. And in doing all this, he grew up to young adulthood with the general population of St. Petersburg agreeing with the conclusion he once reached: Huck Finn was damned from the start, a born sinner. He hadn't grown up right; he couldn't help it. He was just destined to burn.
Relationships: Huckleberry Finn/Tom Sawyer
Comments: 16
Kudos: 73





	Hellfire

**Author's Note:**

> oh my gosh, i've been working on this for literal ages, so i'm excited for people to actually read it finally!
> 
> hope you enjoy! :)

_Didn't you decide long ago you were set on going to Hell?_

_Didn't you decide to be as much of a sinner as you could, seeing as you were already damned?_

_Ain't you sinned enough since then?_

_So why are you so damn worried about this?_

These are the questions Huckleberry Finn asks himself as he sits by the river with Tom on a hot June night. It's been years since he'd decided to be a sinner, through and through, and though he struggled a bit at first, it wasn't too hard in the years following. He mostly just smoked too much and skipped church and took the Lord's name in vain, and most importantly, did his best to help any slave that needed it. And in doing all this, he grew up to young adulthood with the general population of St. Petersburg agreeing with the conclusion he once reached: Huck Finn was damned from the start, a born sinner. He hadn't grown up right; he couldn't help it. He was just destined to burn.

And burn he did: here, now, at the age of seventeen, sitting with his closest friend on a lazy evening, his thoughts, his skin afire with both terror and possibility. He'd known he was going to Hell for years. So why did the fire suddenly terrify him so?

Perhaps because the fire had never before been fanned by one Tom Sawyer, sitting mere inches away, looking at him with that devilish smile the same as any he'd smiled in the years before, and yet completely different. Tom had been a flirt since the time they were twelve, and Huck knew Tom well enough to recognize the look in his eye when he'd smile such a smile at Becky Thatcher or Amy Lawrence. But never before had a smile paired with that look been aimed at Huckleberry Finn. 

In the years Huck Finn had been Tom's closest comrade, Tom had looked at him in a number of ways with a number of aims. There was the frequent spark of mischief when he was about to suggest a bad idea that Huck would inevitably agree to, there was the frustration when Huck didn't understand his reference to some book or other and Tom would call him ignorant as dirt, there was the icy fear of the too-often times they thought they were going to die in their boyhood, there was even the rare and intimate look of sorrow and regret that few were allowed to see on the great Tom Sawyer, but never, till now was there this glint of want, this slightly cocky, dangerous look that pushed at all the boundaries Huck would be better off keeping closed.

As he sits, avoiding this hypnotizing, terrifying look that Tom has inexplicably turned on him (and his even more inexplicable reaction), Huck reconsiders the idea of hellfire. It had scared him once, terribly so, enough that he nearly betrayed Jim's trust, the trust of a man who had nothing else to give but trust and yet gave it to him anyway. He had felt its flames licking at his feet and had written a note that would have destroyed everything. But in the last moment, he had reckoned with the flames and welcomed them, for Jim, offering his afterlife for Jim's life, and not once in his years since has Huckleberry Finn regretted that decision. And so he had familiarized himself with the heat of the Hell waiting for him. Huck Finn was a boy forged in heat, both the heat of hot Missouri nights and the heat of the path he'd chosen.

Since then, Huck was no longer scared of the flames. In an odd way, they comforted him, reminding him that he really was the no-good troublemaker all of St. Petersburg thought he was, only for the right reasons. Now, though, the flames flicking around him and underneath his skin felt new. Because these were not the flames of the afterlife he chose. Instead, he was seared by flames which he had no part in choosing. Huck Finn did not step willingly into this fire. Tom had simply looked at him, and suddenly the world around Huck was burning.

Huck attempts to quiet the roaring of the fire in his head. He hasn't heard a word of whatever Tom is waxing lyrical about, but when he looks up again the look in Tom's eyes is still present, undeterred by Huck's silence.

Tom finishes whatever grand thought he'd been pronouncing. He ends it with an _Eh, Hucky?_ and a conspiratorial grin that implies Huck should be agreeing with him. Huck has absolutely no clue what he's agreeing to, but he finds himself nodding along anyway. That look Tom is giving him makes it hard to speak, hard to do anything but nod and watch in nervous awe, because Tom Sawyer has the looks of an angel and the tongue of the Devil, and Huck is certain he'd follow him into the flames if Tom only asked.

It's always been that way. Since they were children, Tom needed only cajole Huck and tell him what an adventure it would be, and Huck would do whatever he asked, from the small things like stay overnight on Jackson's Island and return in time for their own funerals, to the terrible things that Tom did as a child, like the horrid charades surrounding getting Jim to freedom. Back then, Tom still had no idea of his own culpability and had no problem organizing games of other people's lives for his own amusement. Now, he is not so callous or cruel, and although he can still be a nuisance, he has grown from the selfish child he was. If he knew how easily he could influence Huck into anything, good or bad, he might even have the good graces to feel sorry. But Tom has always been something of a naïve dreamer, and in his mind, he and Huck are comrades and equals in all decisions. Including the decisions to sit closer each day than the last and to lean in further than strictly necessary when joking about this or that. Tom, bless him, sees it as an inevitability that they will eventually gravitate together, and, as Tom has never been a patient individual, is taking it into his own hands to hasten the process, hence the glint in his eye and the playful grin on his lips and the ever-growing flames surrounding Huckleberry Finn.

Eventually, Tom takes notice of Huck's silence. It's not unusual for Huck to be quiet, per se, as the norm for their relationship was generally Tom talking and Huck occasionally responding. What's unusual was how short and rare tonight's responses are, and Tom, always a performer, begins to wind down when he realizes he's speaking to a wall.

_Hucky? What's wrong with you_ _tonight?_ He asks, and Huck hems and haws that there's _nothing wrong, Tom, don't worry so_ , but Huck is not the actor Tom is, and his performance is less than convincing to his best friend of years. Tom has changed in the last thirty seconds, from self-assured orator and shameless flirt to concerned comrade, and the look in his eyes that caused this whole mess has been replaced with one possibly even worse: cautious care. Suddenly gone is the Tom Sawyer of grand gestures and lofty stories, the Tom Sawyer the rest of St. Petersburg would recognize. Here in an instant is a private Tom that only a few, including Huck, are ever privy to. He is quiet and gentle, and he leans down close to look Huck in the eyes.

The reason this kind and caring Tom is even worse to Huck is that it proves something Huck had been dreading. Things have changed now, irreparably so; Huck had been hoping that after Tom grew tired of flirting and turned that fiery gaze elsewhere, Huck's world would return to normal, the flames slowly burning out, simply a temporary phenomenon. Instead, this switch from grandiose Tom to this tender, caring Tom sends the flames surging higher. With Tom looking so earnestly into his eyes, Huck feels himself blush and curses these flames that have set fire to the normalcy of friendship with Tom, one of the only steady and dependable things in Huck's life.

Unfortunately for Huckleberry Finn, Tom is not easily placated and doesn't content himself with Huck's meager excuses of a headache and tiredness. Doubly unfortunate for Huck Finn is that rather than call him out rudely as he might otherwise (Tom Sawyer had a fondness for playing lawyer and pressing untruths strongly), instead Tom gently brushes some unruly hair out of Huck's face and says softly, too softly, _You know you can tell me if something is wrong, right, Hucky?_

Huck shakes internally. All his support beams are breaking and burning in the fire, and there's nothing left to hold him up against Tom's gentle inspection. Tom is so close that Huck can see the individual freckles on his face. He tries to stutter out an explanation, an admission, a plea, anything to break the silence, but all he can get out is a _Tom, I-_ before the words choke in his throat, and Tom's eyes widen in worry.

Tom doesn't know how to fix this. Everyone knows Tom Sawyer both causes and solves all his problems with his mouth, but everything he says seems to weaken Huckleberry further, so he does the only other thing he can think of. He pulls Huck into his arms and hugs him tightly, feeling Huck first tense in surprise and then cling to him.

When Tom takes him in his arms, Huck feels fit to explode, but he relaxes quickly into the familiar warmth of Tom's embrace. He knows he should be shying away, doing anything to stomp out the flames, running out of the burning building, but Tom is the one person that Huck can trust to always make him feel at ease. God knows there's not another soul in St. Petersburg that could touch Huckleberry Finn without coming away with a shiner, but Tom Sawyer has always been the exception to the rule. 

Huck Finn was a loner, except for Tom. Huck Finn didn't play well with others, except for Tom. People in St. Petersburg didn't like Huck Finn, except for Tom. Huck Finn didn't trust anyone, except for Tom. Except for Tom. What was it about Tom Sawyer that made all the difference? If it wasn't for Tom, Huck might've lit out from here a long time ago and not come back. Now, Huck wonders if he should've left years ago and saved himself the trouble of this night and its roaring fire, but he knows, even now, even for all the hellfire in the world, that he wouldn't trade Tom for anything. 

Tom, for his part, breathes a tremendous sigh when Huck settles in his arms. He knows that touching Huck is always a gamble, but he's thankful it's paid off. 

They stay in that embrace for an unknowable amount of time. For Huck, it lasts only as long as it takes for the flames to consume him entirely. For Tom, it takes an eternity, because Tom dares not speak and ruin the moment, and any silent moment for Tom is an eon, especially when he's so cautious, so aware of Huck in his arms, still trembling for reasons Tom doesn't know. 

After that simultaneous instant and eternity, Huck gathers himself and pulls back enough to look Tom in the eye but not far enough away for Tom to let go of him. As it ends up, Tom's hands still rest upon his shoulder and his back, burning the skin there. 

Huck takes a steadying breath and asks Tom to ask him again what's wrong.

_I cain't say it on my own._

Tom's eyes are wide and searching, as if this is some sort of trick, as if wondering if all it took was a hug to get Huck to open up, as if knowing that this moment is monumental. Tom Sawyer is naïve, but not enough so that he doesn't recognize that something important is happening now. As he takes a breath in preparation, Tom thinks to himself that if this were a book, he'd be holding his breath in anticipation for the oncoming climax- and then he realizes that this is not a book, this is better than any adventure novel, this is real. 

And so he asks. His voice trembles noticeably, and Huck feels it wobble in the air between them.

_What's wrong, Huckleberry?_

The use of his full name jars Huck, unused to hearing it from Tom's lips. To Tom, he was usually Huck or Hucky. Huckleberry was what adults called him when they scolded him or told them what he should be. Huckleberry was what the Widow called him when she wanted him to do something. Huck Finn was a child. Huckleberry was someone with responsibility. The name lent itself to the gravity of the situation.

He considers for a brief moment that he could still lie, pretend it was nothing, leave Tom sitting on the river bank wondering what could possibly be troubling Huck that he doesn't trust him with, but this is dismissed quickly. Huckleberry Finn has lied ten times over to everyone in the world, pretending to be anyone but himself, but the one person he has never had to lie to was Tom Sawyer. The one person he could trust to understand and not to judge, to take him as he was, barefoot and pipe-smoking, low-down and ignorant, was Tom Sawyer.

Huckleberry Finn has never considered himself smart, but he knows enough to know that his answer to Tom's question will damn him for sure. Not to Tom, maybe, Tom with his fiery eyes and disregard for rules, but to everyone else. This is the last nail in the coffin. Here lie the last remains of Huck Finn's reputation.

But somehow, with Tom's hazel eyes so near and so kind, always full of the understanding that was so remarkable about him, Huck doesn't feel so scared anymore. He's accepted hellfire before, and God knows it scared him to death, but he survived it. Why not now? Why not again? Miss Watson always told him that Tom Sawyer, troublemaker that he was, wouldn't be reaching the Pearly Gates. So if they were both going to Hell, destined to burn, why not burn together?

From the time they were children, Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn did everything together. If they burned together, what a fitting end it would be.

So Huck takes in a sharp breath and looks right into Tom's eyes, the source of the all-consuming fire, and lets himself love the embers within. Tom, for his part, stares back, still unsure but ever steady as he always has been. Though many in St. Petersburg would say Tom Sawyer was a trickster, a child not to turn your back on for fear of what he'd do, Huck Finn had placed his trust in Tom time and time again, and today was no different.

Huck trusts Tom not to leave him in the blaze alone.

He leans in as the fire rages higher, and by the time his lips touch Tom's, the world is nothing but flame. And when Tom presses back, kissing him like he's been waiting forever, the fire is suddenly different. Where before Huck saw blazing fire destined to burn his bones to ash, now he and Tom were surrounded by fire that lit the world in a golden glow. 

It lasts for a short, shining moment before Tom pulls back abruptly, and the distressed, bewildered look on his face is enough to freeze the breath in Huck's lungs for a terrible second before Tom mutters _Blame it all, Hucky, was that it?_

And Huck laughs, because _of course_ to Tom Sawyer something as monumental as suddenly realizing you're in love with your male best friend was that simple. For all Huck knows, Tom probably woke up that morning and decided in a snap that the fires of Hell were no deterrent to flirting with Huckleberry Finn that day.

_Was that it?_ He echoed, almost giggling at the absurdity of the question. _Excuse me for needing a little time to accept that I’m going to Hell twice over!_

Tom grinned, the hellfire in his eyes now almost as appealing as it had been frightening not ten minutes before.

_But ain’t it exciting, Hucky? Liking somebody so much you’d go to Hell for ‘em?_ _‘Cause I would, you know that? Not that I’d get into Heaven anyhow, but even if I did, I’d rather stay with you._

And it really was that easy for Tom Sawyer. For Huck, even having known he was already damned, the acceptance was as difficult to face as choosing to stay in a burning building while the walls fell down on you, but Tom had chosen him, so easily and seemingly without fear that Huck knew it was worth it. For now at least, he and Tom were fireproof.

Huck leaned back in with more confidence, smiling as Tom met him halfway.

_You know what, Tom? When you kiss me, hellfire don’t scare me none._


End file.
